Gates announces Army being increased by 22,000

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Monday that the size of the Army will be increased temporarily by 22,000 soldiers to help meet the needs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other missions around the world.

This is the second time since 2007 that the military has determined it doesn't have a large enough force. Gates had already increased the size of the Army and Marine Corps shortly after taking the Pentagon job.

Gates noted that while progress in Iraq will lead to a reduction in the number of troops there, more troops are needed in Afghanistan because of the worsening violence in that conflict. He said the persistent pace of operations in the two wars over several years has meant a steady increase in the number of troops who are wounded, stressed or otherwise unable to deploy with their units.

Also causing a shortage is the decision earlier this year to stop the unpopular practice of keeping troops beyond their enlistment dates, a practice known as "stop-loss."

"The cumulative effect of these factors is that the army faces a period where its ability to continue to deploy combat units (with enough troops) is at risk," Gates said.

"This is a temporary challenge that will peak in the coming year and abate over the course of the next three years," Gates told a Pentagon press conference.

The Army currently has a total troop strength of 547,000, including 65,000 soldiers who were added in recent years.

Gates said he would not seek additional money for the extra troops in the 2009 and 2010 fiscal year budgets.

"This decision will result in additional tough choices for the department," he said. "However, I'm convinced that this is an important and necessary step to ensure that we continue to properly support the needs of our commanders in the field while providing relief for our current force and their families."

Gates also said it was "not inevitable" that more U.S. troops would be needed in Afghanistan beyond the 68,000 American force expected to be there by the end of the year.

He had said Thursday that there "may be some increase, but not a lot."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took over as commander for all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last month, is nearing the end of a 60-day review of the campaign what is needed there. The former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, had said he needed an additional 10,000 troops, beyond the 68,000. The White House put off that decision until the end of this year.

According to the Army, 13 percent of the personnel in a typical unit heading to war are not available, compared to 11 percent previously.

The Pentagon said roughly 30,000 soldiers can't deploy with their units. About 9,400 soldiers are in so-called "warrior transition units," with either physical or stress-related injuries. Another 10,000 are unavailable because of other less serious injuries, medical screening problems and pregnancy. The other 10,000 have been tapped for other duties, or have just returned from the battlefront and are guaranteed one year at home before they redeploy.

The buildup in Afghanistan and the shift in Iraq from a combat to a training and assistance force added to the problem by pulling individual soldiers out of their units to fill specialized positions, officials have said. That includes the recent Obama administration decisions to create special advisory brigades with extra trainers and other specialists for Iraq.

Locally

At Fort Stewart, where the Department of Defense announced last month that it would not add an additional fifth brigade to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, Gates' decision could result in as many as 500 additional soldiers intended to backfill empty slots within existing units, according to a spokesman in the office of U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga.

Pam Walck

July is deadliest month for U.S. military in Afghanistan

KABUL - A roadside bomb killed four American troops in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, driving the July death toll for U.S. forces to the highest monthly level of the war.

The latest deaths brought to at least 30 the number of American service members who have died in Afghanistan this month - two more than the figure for all of June 2008, which had been the deadliest month for the U.S. since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power.

July's death toll for the entire U.S.-led coalition, which includes American, British, Canadian and other forces, stands at 55 - well over the previous record of 46 deaths suffered in June and August of 2008.

U.S. commanders had predicted a bloody summer after President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan in a bid to turn the tide against a resurgent Taliban and shift the focus on the global war against Islamic extremism from Iraq.

NATO's outgoing Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday that terrorism would spread through the world if NATO forces fail in Afghanistan.

"Al-Qaida would have a free run again, and their terrorist ambitions are global," he said in a speech at London's Chatham House think tank. "Those who argue otherwise - who say we can defend against terrorism from home - are simply burying their heads in the sand."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned that U.S.-led forces must demonstrate progress in Afghanistan by next summer or face a public perception that the conflict cannot be won. Heavy losses this month have already triggered a public debate in Britain that the war in Afghanistan may not be worth the price.

Deadliest months

U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war:

- July 2009: 30 killed as of July 20.

- June 2008: 28 killed.

- September 2008: 27 killed.

- June 2005: 27 killed, including eight Navy SEALS and eight members of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment aboard a Chinook helicopter that crashed.

- June 2009: 25 killed.

- August 2008: 22 killed.

- July 2008: 20 killed, including nine soldiers who lost their lives in a militant assault on a remote U.S. base close to the Pakistan border.